At the end of last week, it looked like cryptocurrencies would outrun the storm of government regulations bearing down on them. But that analysis was all wrong—it’s now clear that we were sitting in the eye of the storm.
However, the momentary calm wasn’t so bad. It led to a short-lived rally in Ripple prices, which in turn revived some enthusiasm on Reddit and other discussion boards.
Then a barrage of bad news broke over the weekend. Not only did this snap the optimism, but it reminded us that governments are getting more active in the space, not less.
As a result, XRP prices fell 6.69% in the last 24 hours, putting the XRP to USD exchange rate at $1.36.
Here are the specific issues at play:
- South Korea strikes again. A major Korean exchange, Korbit, stopped accepting deposits from foreigners after receiving an official order from Korean authorities. In practice, this means that only Korean citizens will be able to fill their trading accounts with local currency. Other Korean exchanges could receive similar notices this week. (Source: “Registering at Shinhan Bank for KRW Deposit,” Korbit blog, January 19, 2018.)
- The IMF wants a level playing field. Bureaucrats at the International Monetary Fund are encouraging “greater international discussion and cooperation among regulators.” To me, this looks like the IMF wants to create global standards for trading cryptos. (Source: “IMF Calls for Global Talks on Cryptocurrencies,” Bloomberg, January 18, 2018.)
- India’s tax man comes knocking. After realizing Indians had traded more than $3.5 billion worth of cryptocurrencies, the government sent out tax notices to traders and investors. After all, no government can resist a juicy capital gains tax. (Source: “India sends tax notices to cryptocurrency investors as trading hits $3.5 billion,” Reuters, January 19, 2018.)
- China pours salt on the wound. The People’s Bank of China cut investors deeply when it banned yuan-to-cryptocurrency transfers in September 2017. Now it’s pouring salt on the wound, forcing payment providers to close any loopholes that might exist. In other words, the companies will have to spend money on internal investigations just to satisfy the almighty PBoC. (Source: “PBoC Reportedly Orders Payment Services to Stop Serving Crypto Traders,” CoinDesk, January 19, 2018.)
As you can see, I’m not a fountain of glorious Ripple news this morning. However, I still believe in the long-term value underpinning XRP prices.
Analyst Take
We maintain our $10.00 Ripple price prediction for 2018.
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